Cherry Bloom
by yulchii
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke didn't wake up. Lee didn't show up. None of the Rookies were nearby. Sakura was on her own.


**Summary:** Naruto and Sasuke didn't wake up. Lee didn't show up. None of the Rookies were nearby. Sakura was on her own.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

 **Warnings:** Language, violence, shinobi, blood

 **Rating:** T

 **Word Count:** 4008

 **Author's Note:** I know there are a lot of strong!Sakura fics but... I wanted to write one of my own. So here it is. A what-if. Don't know if and when I will write the next chapter. Nearly whole chapter is a describtion, not much talking, I know, sorry. There may be mistakes. Thoughts? (For anyone following my other stories, sorry, still don't know when I will update those.)

Edit: I changed the fact that Sound had two scrolls. There are lots of other mistakes and it's too much too fast but that's something I have no motivation to change. Well, I would but then I don't wanna do this.

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 **Chapter 1**

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Sakura took a quick look behind her shoulder, eyes lingering on her two unconscious teammates lying next each other and despaired. She was dead tired, in need of sleep, with a pounding headache, a crick in her neck and on the verge of collapsing from Chakra exhaustion. They had no food or water so after the battle, if you could call it that, which took both Sasuke-kun and Naruto out of commission, when she had to drag both of them along with her, look for shelter and watch out for enemies at the same time, she was near unconscious herself.

But she couldn't very well leave one of them, if there was one thing Kakashi-sensei taught them (he didn't teach them much of anything, really, the only thing he could claim to have taught them was the tree climbing exercise, which, while infinitely useful right now, was just _not_ _enough_ for Chunin Exams) it was that teamwork was the most important, and those who left their teammates behind were worse than trash.

She had one truly shameful moment where she wanted to take Sasuke-kun and leave Naruto alone, back then. She would have hid him, of course, and she was going to come back for him when she found a place for them to recover. She was sure that she wouldn't see able to carry the two of them, both boys, heavier (but not bigger, Naruto was actually shorter) than her and completely out of it. Plus, she winced, she was on this stupid diet so her muscle tone, while impressive for civilians, was near insignificant in comparison to the two boys. She was weak, she sure as hell couldn't carry the two of them.

It turned out, she could. Because she _did_ end up carrying them. After extracting Naruto from her kunai pinning him to the giant tree, she grabbed him firmly against her and jumped back to the branch where Sasuke-kun was lying.

She thought quickly about the possibility of carrying them on her shoulders but snorted, she wasn't strong enough for that. She chewed on her chapped lip. Instead she pulled rope from her pouch and started for her blond teammate. She tied Naruto's hands together and hefted him on her back in an amusing imitation of a piggyback ride, his tied hands resting somewhere before her, his head on her left shoulder. She grabbed him under his knees and settled them in the crooks of her elbows. Then she maneuvered her arms carefully under Sasuke's knees and back and stood up from her crouch.

She nearly fell back from the weight of Naruto and the fact that he had tipped back and his tied hands were at her throat, the only thing keeping him from falling down. She ignored the fact that she couldn't breathe and threw herself forward, Naruto's dead weight following after her. She grunted when he collided with her back, his forehead protector banging against the back of her head. She sucked in a breath, ignored the tears stinging her eyes and began making her way out of there as fast as possible.

She wasn't sure if the battle (more like slaughter) was heard through the forest but she knew that she didn't want to linger here anymore. If whoever was heading here was hoping for easy pickings, she had to make sure that they were as far away from the site as she could possibly take them.

Finding the tree hollow and trapping the entire area took even more out of her. So here she was, exhausted and frustrated and so, _so_ scared, her back to her team, ready to defend them with her life if that was what it took for them to be safe.

She turned her eyes back to the three ninja before her, their expressions condescending and vaguely interested, like predators indulging their prey, playing, before pouncing and sinking their claws in small, defenseless bodies. She pressed her lips together, pulled out a kunai and activated the traps.

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* * *

"Oi, Kakashi! Your students are finally visible!" Was heard from one of the shinobi standing in front of a set of monitors. Kakashi immediately stood up from the couch he was casually lounging on to this moment, closed his book and slowly made his way to Genma who was leaning forward and watching the goings on avidly, waving a distracted hand at the Copy Ninja. Other jounin and a few chunin took interest and meandered closer too.

Kakashi's students disappeared from cameras some hours ago and while that wasn't supposed to happen, the cameras were hidden behind foliage and genjutsu, a powerful jutsu _could_ take the equipment out. To this moment only Konoha's Team Seven had this happen to the cameras around them, everyone else was accounted for (even if there were only bloody smears remaining). The participants could disappear for a few minutes but usually appeared back on as they went on and different cameras caught sight of them. The longest a team wasn't visible was about fifteen minutes. Team Seven, on the other hand, was beating all kinds of unheard of and unwanted records.

Kakashi looked at the monitors and breathed a silent sigh of relief at seeing all three of them. At the same time a sense of unease and helplessness washed over him as he saw his female student hauling both her teammates along with her. Whoever attacked them had to be strong to knock both Naruto and Sasuke out and keep it that way. He followed Sakura's small figure with his eyes, there was nothing he could do now. It was out of his hands, the exam couldn't be stopped.

He blinked, outwardly impassive, and watched his student struggle to lug her team through the forest. The quality of the video wasn't the best and they only had a shot from about twenty meters away so he couldn't see her face but the determined set of her shoulders and her steady pace suggested that she wouldn't back down.

The other shinobi murmured amongst themselves, watching the girl carry her teammates to safety. Hopefully.

After a few more hours, the shinobi around Kakashi came and went, he was the only one who stayed and followed Sakura's progress through the forest, watching her move more and more slowly on different monitors. He watched as Sakura found a small clearing, stuffed Naruto and Sasuke in the hollow of a tree and set the traps. Then, he allowed himself a small smile and a break. He couldn't do anything anyway. The cameras had about an hour delay in getting the picture back to the Tower.

He regretted those words because when he came back, he saw a black screen and words 'CAMERA DISCONNECTED' on them.

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* * *

Sakura was alone with them. She was alone and terrified. They dispatched her exploding traps. They wanted Sasuke, they wanted to test him. Orochimaru ordered them to. She didn't know what was going on, she was alone, she was tires, she wanted to go home.

She thought that this was what being a real shinobi was all about. Being without any other option but to fight. If she wanted to go home and hug her parents ever again, she could have just left and never looked back. She could have lied and said that Team Seven was separated. But being a shinobi wasn't about that. It was about fighting for what one believed in, for the Village and its citizens and your friends. She wasn't friends with her team, not really, but only trash leaves teammates.

A cold determination swept by her body. And even though she was still afraid, still didn't want to get hurt or die, she knew that she would have to. This was no longer a schoolyard fight. These were no schoolyard bullies. They were not her classmates, not Konoha's, she didn't have to tolerate them, be careful, not hurt.

She couldn't let them get to Sasuke or Naruto. They were hers. Her team, her to protect, it was time for her to get off her ass and do something. Because no one was coming. She entertained a thought that since Sasuke was an Uchiha (the last one to boot) and Naruto was (bizarrely) Hokage's most liked student, someone would come for them if not for her. Someone, anyone, preferably right now. Her hopes were dashed when she remembered what they all signed right before the exam. They couldn't fault anyone of the examiners, even of one (or all) of them died here.

No one was coming.

So she got to her feet and decided to fight with all she had. _This time, get a good look at my back._ She discharged the traps. The tree was only just swinging down when she sprung to her feet and charged into their midst with all the abandon she could muster. She was strangely reminded of Zabuza when she, kunai in each hand and teeth bared, eyes trained on the girl, striked with her foot lightning fast at the bandaged one's knee and followed that with a roundhouse kick to the head that knocked the boy right off his feet. He flew a few meters, landed with a heavy thud and didn't get up again but she didn't even notice. It all happened in a matter of two seconds.

The girl saw her looking at her when Sakura first closed in and pulled back and into the tree's path. Sakura threw a kunai at her for good measure, high, to her forehead so she will get down instead of to the side, hopefully, and ducked to the side, eyes searching for the second boy, frantically looking around, where was he-

A heavy force slammed into her from behind and she flew ass over tea kettle, the world rolling around her, rolling, hearing the fabric of her dress give and finally landing heavily on her back, skidding a few feet, feeling her muscles protest and skin tear. She laid there for a few seconds, disoriented, and rolled to the side, getting to her arms and knees and trying to get up, get _UP_ _GETUPRIGHTNOW_ –

She heard some muffled voices which quickly started becoming louder and louder and then a hand grabbed her by her hair, wrenching her head up and back, forcing her into an sitting position awkward position.

"Such silky smooth hair-" Sakura trembled as the barbs flew from the kunoichi's mouth. She knew, she _knew_ that she should have trained more, spent less time on hair and boys and diets and _Sasuke-kun will definitely like this perfume_ –

She noticed that she still had one kunai in her hand. She glanced up and the girl stopped gloating, "What are you gonna do with this, huh? Weak little girl."

And Sakura cut off her hair near the scalp, the blade nicking a long line along the girl with the bow in her hair's knuckles. She rolled forward, away from the flailing hand grabbing for her and threw the kunai over her shoulder at the Bow-girl, who tipped back to avoid it.

Sakura didn't have any more weapons but that didn't mean she couldn't fight. She would just have to be creative. As she thought so, she quickly hooked her fingers in the band of her left sandal, took it off with considerable speed and threw it with all her might at the arrogant boy who was walking towards where she stowed her teammates.

The blue shoe smacked him on the back of his head and he actually stumbled before whirling on her with murder in his eyes.

And then, after performing a perfect, textbook Kawakami, with her own strategy thrown in, a few times, she fished one last kunai out of her pouch, threw herself at the boy who had hair reminiscent of Kakashi-sensei, let his weapons hit her crossed arms and stuck her own knife in his forearm. Forced by her weight and shock, the boy lowered his arm and she didn't think, instincts guiding her. She opened her mouth wide and latched with her teeth on to his throat like an animal. Blood burst into her mouth but she didn't relent. He wheezed, his uninjured arm pushing at her in a futile effort to make her stop. They tumbled down to the ground and she shook her head like a dog, still holding on with all she had to his neck and driving the kunai deeper into his arm. The body beneath her gurgled and she felt the meat give and tear. She spit it out to the side quickly, eyes darting up and around at the scream she heard. She couldn't stand still now, she had to keep moving. She grabbed with her other hand at the boy's shoulder when she heard a whistle of air signaling an incoming attack, ducked down and rolled them over so that his body was on top. And when the senbon inevitably struck home, it was in the boy's back, not hers. Blood was gushing out of the wound at his throat and spilling fast all over her dress.

She was out of weapons so when she rolled them over again, she stuck a hand in the pouch at her opponent's hip. Her hand clumsily grasped one more knife and when she was on top she leaned back to avoid the next salve of senbon, rolling several feet and standing up on wobbly legs. Her back to the tree hollow, front to the furious enemy, she raised the kunai higher, to eye level, expression stony, without a shoe.

The next senbon were aimed more accurately and she noticed they had bells attached to them. She dodged but two stuck in her left shoulder and the one in the crook of her elbow. As she was yanking them out (they were small and not deep, not much blood would come from the wounds, she couldn't say the same thing about the kunai and three shuriken sticking out of her forearms, though) one more struck but she wasn't quick enough to dodge and it pierced her bare foot. She quickly cataloged the fact that a weapon for silent killing had a bell attached to it signified the fact that it wasn't for silent killing. Bells, after all, made noise.

After a few seconds, she understood their aim as her balance wavered and she stumbled a few steps to the side. Or maybe it was poisoned? No, she thought, the sensation of disorientation didn't come from the needles that struck home in her body. It was more of an all-encompassing feeling. But she wasn't really a poison specialist, so who knew. She certainly did not. She numbly thought that she would become more versed in poisons. If she lived through this, that is.

The adrenaline shooting through her veins reduced the pain from all her injuries she acquired up to this moment to nothing more than an annoyance, she didn't think about them because that would lead to them becoming more real and painful in the hazy world of fight-fight-protect- _don't-let-them-get-near_ -tear- _live_.

She tried to focus on the other girl but the brunette, a cruel smile on her face was coming closer and closer and suddenly Sakura was on the ground. A foot struck her chest and she could feel something crack. A rib, probably. Her breathing wasn't impaired by much so it probably didn't pierce the lung. She moved her head back, watching upside down as the girl moved closer to the giant tree where Sakura' s team rested. The Sound kunoichi turned slowly around, her smile looking even more twisted from Sakura's position on the grass, dark eyes twinkling and fingers playing with three senbon she held, stroking along their length. She was saying something but the only sounds Sakura was able to hear was the fast pumping of her heart, slamming against her ribs like a hammer, blood pounding in her ears like a drum and the sweet chiming of the bells. Like an orchestra.

Nevertheless she focused on the other's lips and read what she needed, "-gonna rip apart this precious Sasuke-kun of yours. While I'm at it, why not the other one too," before narrowing her eyes. A thought flew through her mind a, _NO WAY IN HELL, YOU BITCH!_ of her inner self, or maybe herself, she didn't know but she wholeheartedly agreed that if someone was going to touch her team it was over her cold, dead body. She would not let that ugly wench lay a _finger_ on either of the boys.

A memory of Zabuza once again surfaced against her will, his skills in handling a sword, his efficiency in killing even without working arms and, finally, his ability to scare anyone and freeze them in place with just his _will_ alone, without actually twitching a _muscle_. Killing intent, she though distantly. That's what it was called, came a clinical thought as she watched the Bow-girl choke on nothing, eyes wide and filled with tears, mouth open, face chalk white, whole body trembling. She thought about the girl, killing her wouldn't only be the best choice, Sakura actually wanted to kill the other kunoichi. Bow-girl was a threat, dangerous but still crushable, like a bug that needed to be stepped on. A bother to get rid of.

After that thought she was startled from her musings by a thud. When she looked up it was to see the girl on the ground, moaning, the bells stopped chiming. Sakura quickly ignored her leftover disorientation, pulled the senbon from her foot and got up once again, limping across the clearing to the Bow-girl.

When she got close she struck the back of Bow-girl's head and, when the last of her adversaries slumped to the ground, she _breathed_.

Unfortunately, there was no time for relax. She needed to neutralize them for longer. She wasn't against killing now, she felt apathy thinking about it but... She rummaged through the girl's clothes and took all her weapons and weapon pouches away. She found some ninja wire and quickly put it to work. She forced the girl's arms behind her back and up, tied them together. She looked down at herself, her clothes were shredded and bloodied, her qui-pao dress was thrown open, the zipper was damaged, her black underwear was clearly visible through the holes in her shorts. She looked back towards Bow-girl and didn't hesitate to liberate the other kunoichi's shinobi pants (she felt a vague amused viciousness rear its head at the thought of the girl waking up in only her underwear but the more practical side of her shrugged, _needs must_ , she thought, (besides, the pants were _ugly as sin_ , with _cowprints_ )). She threw the trousers over her shoulder, first she needed to deal with the unconscious enemies.

She went over to the bandaged one to take a look through his weapons and stared with disbelief at the EARTH scroll she discovered lying amongst shuriken and makibishi. She put it back in the pouch which she took with herself, looked at the strange contraption on his arm and, after trying to get it off and not succeeding, decided to leave it be. She would have blown it off if she had any exploding tags on her person. After a moment's consideration, she took his scarf (also cowprint, how unfashionable could one get) and tied his hands and legs together tightly so that he was bent back with in a strange O like shape. She did the same with the girl (she may have done the knots a little tighter than absolutely necessary but didn't break skin). She couldn't risk them waking up and attacking, even if only their legs were free, one never knew with shinobi.

Then, finally, she went to the third one's side and took all his weapon pouches away. She didn't bother tying him up, his body was already cold.

There was a little glass container of small, round, black pills in his pocket. Her eyes widened and, desperately, hands shaking, she fished one out and crunched on it. Feeling her Chakra replenishing and instantly becoming more alert, she thought for a moment. They were relatively safe here for a while, as safe as anywhere else in this forest. She needed to dress her wounds and change her pants. She turned to her two tied prisoners and cast a genjutsu she learned while at the Academy, for extra credit, ever the eager teacher's pet, she thought distantly. That should keep them under for a little bit longer and give her some extra time.

She hurried to collect the weapons from the clearing so that the Sound Nins couldn't free themselves. She also went to get her shoe back. She stripped off her clothes. Peeling the back of her qui-pao dress from her skin was difficult as the shredded material was glued by clumped blood to the wounds on her back from where she skidded on the ground a few times. Nevertheless, she did it. She also pulled off the mesh t-shirt with a strip of black cloth cover over her breasts. Now she was only in her underwear shorts (no bra, she was flat as a board) and she sheared the legs of the Bow-girl's pants off at the knees and put them on.

She didn't have anything to wash the wounds with, no water or antiseptic. And bandages were also gone to treat Naruto and Sasuke. She made do with what she had.

She carefully pulled the kunai and three shuriken from her arms and quickly used the material from the legs of the pants as a makeshift bandage. She didn't bother tying her foot and her elbow wound, there wasn't enough material for that. And she was on a tight schedule, the other team could wake anytime. So despite her left foot bleeding sluggishly, she put on her sandal (shoes were the most important, she could flash everyone with her flat chest but walking without shoes meant pain and discomfort and she couldn't afford that).

She looked at the scarf she took from the other Sound Nin and used it as a giant bandage for her torso and back. To hold her ribs, she poked her right side and winced, and to tam the blood a little. She only hoped that the cloth wasn't too dirty. And that sepsis didn't set in if it was. She pulled on her mesh and her now open dress, toying with the broken zipper, and sighed, nothing she could do now. She would have to deal.

The three new kunai pouches along with her own, distributed two on one leg and all three new hip pouches went alongside her own, on the belt that came along with her new (ugly) pants. She breathed, took another soldier pill, stored the little container in her own pouch. She wondered what to do with the scrolls and, after a moment of consideration, she stuffed them both down Naruto's pants. Not many people would think to look _there_.

She looked around, worried gaze lingering on Naruto's slack face and Sasuke's tight one, screwed up as if in pain and the place where she knew that strange bite mark ( _seal_ ) lingered. She hefted both boys in their positions, Naruto on her back, Sasuke like a bride in her arms (ignored the voice contemplating that it was supposed to be the other way around (but now that she knew what a strain it is on the one who is doing all the carrying, she wouldn't like to inflict her dead weight on anyone, not even Sasuke, not even if it would lead to a heated kiss straight from her fantasies, she just didn't think the sore muscles were worth the schmoozing… Ino would screech if she ever heard her thoughts) and she took off.

She had the one scroll, her two teammates and her two shoes. Also, pants. She will get them through this forest if that was the last thing she ever did.

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End file.
